


Two dumbasses, 400 miles apart because they're *definitly not* in love

by Coal_burningbright



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27294175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coal_burningbright/pseuds/Coal_burningbright
Summary: For TomatoBookworm as part of this fic exchange!Daisy isn't in love with Lincoln because he's been her best friend forever.Lincoln isn't in love with Daisy because that would ruin their friendship.Joey, May, and Coulson are all fed up with their friend's/child's constant lovestruckness.
Relationships: Lincoln Campbell & Joey Gutierrez, Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Two dumbasses, 400 miles apart because they're *definitly not* in love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TomatoBookworm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomatoBookworm/gifts).



  
  


Was it her imagination or had Lincoln, once again, gotten hotter? Daisy shook her head slightly and went back to paying attention to what her friend was saying. 

She loved these calls, they had originally started out of necessity when he had gone overseas to continue his medical degree and she had stayed in the states but now they were the highlight of her week. Unfortunately, she was currently cursing her stupidity. 

“-And then I said ‘How dare you imply that eating a mango whole is bad for you, I am a med student. Of course, I know it isn’t great for you but people  _ should _ trust me.”

“Sure they should, however no one who has ever met you does Mr. ‘Just Yeet Me Into Space so I Don’t Have To Take Exams’”

“That was a perfectly rational request.”

“Sure, Jan.”

“Daisy! And besides, I remember you saying, and I quote, ‘Only if I can also die in space’”

“Well-”

****

“Dumb brain.” She grumbled later that night, “You’re not allowed to have a crush on a friend.” 

_ A hot friend _ her brain said back. 

“I wonder how much a lobotomy costs.” 

_ I bet Lincoln knows _ Daisy huffed and resolved herself to a lifetime of pining after people she couldn’t have.

Lincoln had been her best friend since they sat next to each other on a bus for a field trip, and then decided to ignore the tour of the aquarium and instead went and just stared at the sharks. The scolding was worth it because from then on they were inseparable. Daisy knew she couldn’t jeopardize their friendship over anything, and besides, it was just a crush. 

Sure it was annoying that she was thinking about his cute face and the way his excitement was electric and-  _ Bad Daisy, _ she scolded herself.  _ No having a crush on Lincoln _ .

She could do this.

****

Lincoln was going to have to clear his search history before summer break because Daisy had a habit of stealing his computer, and maybe having your best friend find out that you googled “How do I tell my best friend I’m in love with her” is not a good idea. The google results hadn’t even been helpful. 

“Joey!” Lincoln called, flopping down on the bed. “I need emotional support now.”

Joey was considering getting a new roommate. “Let me guess, you just called with Daisy and you can’t handle how pretty her hair is.”

“Her  _ eyes _ .”

“Great.” Joey put in his headphones and settled in for another long night of ignoring his friend. “Let me know when you finish talking about Daisy.”

“And her eyes just have so much depth, they’re so warm and expressive and it’s like light shines from them-”

***

“So, how’s Lincoln doing?” 

“ _ Daaaaaad _ .” Daisy was regretting coming to the family dinner. She loved her parents, she really did, but they had a knack for finding out who she had crushes on and then asking a bajillion questions. 

“A good child should always answer their father.” Her mom said, winking at her. “This isn’t to say that they can never team up with their mom to play pranks on him.”

Daisy crinkled her eyes back at her mom. “You just blamed most of them on me.”

“I seem to remember you doing a fair share, now spill the tea.” Daisy regretted teaching her parents slang. 

“Nothing is up with Lincoln, he’s coming home in three weeks and by then my crush will have vanished and everything will be fine.”

“If you say so, Dais.”

“It will!”

Phil Coulson patted his daughter's shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s natural to have a crush.”

“I know it’s natural to have a crush, Dad! It’s not like it’s my first.”

“It’s on Lincoln though, and you have it bad.” 

“Mom!”

“It is true that you’d walk to the ends of the earth for that boy.”

“I’d have done that before I had a crush on him. And you can stop calling him ‘That Boy’ I’ve known him since I was ten.”

“Okay, point Daisy on that one, but you can’t argue that you too work well together.”

“Yeah, as  _ friends _ .”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

***

Lincoln was excited to see Daisy again but he was not happy with the part of his brain that kept telling him he should kiss her. If he was this much of a wreck just waiting at the airport then what would it be like when-  _ Oh. _

Daisy wasn’t dressed up per se but she was wearing her “Best friends are forever or until they steal my cake” shirt that he had made for her. Her face lit up when she saw him and for a minute he could ignore the butterflies in his stomach and focus instead on the feeling of hugging her. He had missed this, missed his friend. 

Lincoln had become friends with Daisy when their class went on a field trip and she tripped and fell and the teacher didn’t notice. Lincoln had stayed behind to help her up and then they had agreed that the trip was boring and went and looked at the sharks. 

Now looking at Daisy twelve years later, Lincoln could still see the same twinkle in her eye and smirk in her smile. 

“Glad you haven’t replaced me while you were gone, Sparky.”

“Stop calling me that.” 

“I’ll stop calling you sparky when you stop electrifying me with the static electricity that somehow  _ clings  _ to you like a lost puppy every year.” Lincoln faked a heavy sigh.

“Guess I’ll have to learn to live with the nickname then.”

“Lincoln!”

God, why did he have to be so cute? 

“Also I can tell something is bugging you, want to talk about it in the car?”

Daisy did not want to talk about it. She could never hurt Lincoln like this. She knew that her feelings would just have to go away.

“Not really, there’s not something bugging me as much as I’m just overwhelmed with emotion.”

Lincoln could see through his friend’s lies but he let her keep her secrets. “Just know I’m here for you.”

“Of course, Sparky.” Daisy dodged Lincoln's half-hearted attack and stuck her tongue out. Wow, it was hard to not think about kissing him.

“Now, tell me all about how Jemma is.”

The pair settled into their familiar pattern. 

*** 

Daisy was dying. It had been only three days and already she was being killed. She was sure her life expectancy had gone down years. She probably only had a few weeks left at this rate.

Lincoln bustled around the kitchen making french toast, while Daisy sat  _ staring _ looking at him. He was also making some surprise for later, Daisy had only tried to peek at a few times. 

When he sat down Daisy resisted the urge to grab his hand and thread their fingers together. Still, she could feel the ghost of his hand on hers. Shaking away the feeling she pulled out her list.

It was a tradition, every time they were separated they made lists of everything interesting that had happened, the lists often contained random things (I saw a bird today!) or straight-up lies (Sucks you’re far away Lincoln because aliens landed today). It was Daisy’s favorite thing to do. 

Every day they would tuck that day’s thing into an envelope so that the other person would receive it. Lincoln passed Daisy his envelope (nice, big, creamy, professional) and Daisy passed him hers (ten different envelopes, a mess). 

“Joey organized mine,” Lincoln said when she made a sad face at her crazy mess. “Before it looked like yours.”

“One, two, three!” They both opened the envelopes and grabbed one. 

“The sun looked pretty today” Daisy read, “I watched it set with Joey.” 

“I ate a chip and then a seagull stole the rest of them.”

“Clearly you had a better day than me.”

“And that seagull had the best day out of the lot.”

About twenty slips in Daisy picked up one with different handwriting. ‘Lincoln told me what this thing is and I volunteered to organize it to slip this note to Daisy.’ it began. ‘Daisy, if you’re reading this then you should know Lincoln has the biggest crush on you. Please do something about it so I don’t have to deal with him talking about how amazing you are anymore.’

Daisy blinked and read the note again, then a third time. Was it a prank?

She would risk anything for Lincoln but she couldn’t risk losing his friendship. She set the slip down and moved on. 

Lincoln had been wondering which slip Daisy had been looking at so when she put it down he grabbed it. 

_ Shit _ . 

“Daisy," he said softly, “Sorry you had to see this.”

When Lincoln grabbed the paper Daisy’s mind went into overdrive. How could she let him know she knew it was a joke without giving away her disappointment?

“It’s okay Linc, I get it.” Now he’d know she knew it was a joke and they could get back to their regularly scheduled friendship.

“You like me back?”

“ _ Back _ ?” Now Daisy was confused, was the note  _ not _ a joke?

Lincoln was also confused. Fuck, did Daisy not like him? Was she just saying she got that he had a crush on her because, well, who wouldn’t?

“Lincoln, what does that note mean.”

Okay, he could do this. He could always say it had been a while ago. “Joey wrote this because I kept talking about my crush on you.” 

Daisy’s heart beat fast, now was the time. “Ha, I’m surprised my parents didn’t do the same thing- they keep teasing me about how much I talk about you.” That had to be vague enough. 

“So do you like me back?” 

“Well, saying I like you makes it sound like we’re back in high school. I would however like to date you?” Daisy’s voice got a little high at the end but that was probably okay and not a medical problem. 

“I’d like to date you too.”

**Three Months Later**

Joey resolved to invest in soundproof headphones, maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to get Lincoln together with Daisy. Sure, on paper it had meant Lincoln stopped bugging him about his crush but on the other hand Lincoln was calling with Daisy more often and half the conversations were just compliments. Joey sighed again and got back to his engineering homework.


End file.
